Freedom
by Forest Archer
Summary: DH SPOILERS! Oneshot. Life from the point of view of a certain Gringotts guardian. Freedom is a thing of the past.


_**(A/N: DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILERS!!! If you've not read the seventh book, you may wish to leave this page.**_

_**Anyway, if you're still here, this is a oneshot about the guardian of the deepest Gringotts vaults. This idea just hit me out after I reread the Gringotts break-in chapter, and I knew I wasn't going to get any peace until I wrote it. Enjoy!)**_

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My earliest memories are of playing around in a forest somewhere with my sister, Seitha, flying around and playing tag. Freedom – that's what it all was. And yet I didn't appreciate it. Not then. Not when I had no idea how bad life could be.

I still remember the day they came and took me. My mother was sitting on the nest – she was waiting for another four eggs to hatch! Seitha and I were running around on the forest floor, playing a game – playing with fire. Yes, I know Muggles think it's dangerous. But they don't have as much control over it as we do. Or did.

We heard an angry call – it was our mother. It had to be; there were no others of our type in the area. We began to race back towards her. There were too many branches overhead to take off and fly. We kept getting caught between trees, but we kept going.

And then a load of wizards pointed their sticks at us, and everything went black.

The next thing I knew, I was down in that accursed cave. I tried to move, too look around. But I was trapped – chained.

That place was awful. These little goblins kept coming down, often with wizards. The goblins had these strange clanging tools. I didn't know what they were at first, but I soon found out – the hard way.

I still remember the first time they ever came down. There were maybe fifteen, twenty of them. They had the noisy tools. I didn't know what they were doing. I got nervous, and began to create more fire, which found no purchase on the damp rock and vanished. Then the goblins thrust red hot swords at me – into my face, my back, my stomach. I still remember the fierce pain, the endless agony.

And then the wizards went into a room. I neither knew nor cared what was in there. What did it matter to me?

Then they all left. They went back into their world, into the light. The world which it seemed I wasn't allowed to know any more. I was left alone.

I was trapped down there for countless years, countless ages. At first, when I still had hope, I tried to break free. I tried to break the manacles that held me down, tried to crumble away the walls of the cave. No luck.

After a few score years, I gave up. I learned to accept that I would never again feel the touch of the wind, nor see the rays of the sun.

But, one day, everything changed.

The goblins were back, yet again. I heard the sound of one of their strange instruments, and shied away. I noticed that there were only two goblins this time, and three more wizards. Odd. Still, what difference did it make to me? One of them had a sword. It didn't look hot, but I'd learned never to presume things with those treacherous goblins.

It wasn't long before more than twenty goblins were running towards me and the door to the vault. They all had the clanging instruments, so I backed further away. One of the goblins who went in with the wizards rushed out with a sword, shouting something in the strange language they all use.

Then the three wizards came out, then went out of my vision. I rather thought I felt something on my back, but ignored it in light of a new discovery: the chains around my legs had gone! Delighted, and yet still scared of the goblins, I turned to a wall. Excitement pulsed through me as I began to crumble cave after cave with fire and might, heading further away from the foreboding noises those goblin pipsqueaks had.

I had a feeling that, as I worked, I wasn't the only one doing the damage. I had strange feeling on my back – it seemed heavier than usual. Perhaps those wizards… But what did it matter, after all? If they were helping me, they could stay. I decided not to frizzle them.

Adrenaline filled my body. My legs were sore and stiff after so long scarcely being able to move, and yet I felt more alive than I had done for years. At last, I had forced my way into a vast hall. It was filled with goblins and wizards alike. I refused the temptation to destroy them – freedom was so close and I did not want to risk capture.

I had to stumble through that huge room – my years of imprisonment and torture had made me half-blind. At last I found a way out through some doors that were just large enough for me to pass through.

YES! The glory and triumph gave me the strength to take wing and fly. I had finally made it to the outside world. The fresh air felt good in my lungs. I took off. The wind rushed passed me, and I revelled in its touch. I could scarcely see where I was going, but what did it matter? I flew higher and higher, delighted that at last, I was free to do what I wanted.

I still had the suspicion that those wizards had climbed onto my back. I could hear voices faintly over the rush of the wind. Because I suspected they'd helped me escape, I resisted the temptation to roll over. I wanted to, just because I could, but I decided to help out the humans.

At long last, I decided to land. Why? Because I had a feeling that I knew the place I was flying over. As I moved lower, I felt a strange, light sensation on my back and heard a few splashes. The wizards had jumped off. Happily, I rolled over and over and finally landed.

Shortly afterwards, I headed back into the forest that held so many happy childhood memories – and yet also a terrifying one.

I could not see well with my true eyes, but in my mind's eye I could see where I was going – I had known the forest so well and it was like I'd never been away. I could even imagine my sister frolicking in front of me-

But wait! There was a movement among the trees ahead. Someone ventured out from behind a clump of bushes. A flash of recognition hit me. More and more memories stirred.

Could it be-?

It was! I leapt forward, pure excitement and delight flooding me. If anything could have made my day any better, it was this.

Seitha! Sure, she was older, much older, like me. But I knew her, and she knew me. Fires sprang around us as we met and our breathing grew fast in excitement.

This was the happiest day of my life.

After all, even dragons deserve a bit of fun, don't we?

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_**(A/N: I hope you liked that! Please leave me a review if you can be bothered; this is my first oneshot and also my first attempt at this kind of story.) **_


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